1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to games and, more particularly, relates to games in which prizes are awarded. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to games in which the prizes awarded are the products displayed as a result of playing the game.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is customary for all types of businesses to promote their products and services by offering those products and services at more attractive prices. Such promotions typically involve the use of coupons, such as buy one-get one free coupons, coupons redeemable for products or services at reduced prices or for free, rebate coupons, etc. These promotional techniques are, at best, only marginally effective at promoting the goods and services of businesses and, accordingly, the extraordinary expense in conducting these promotions is hardly justified. Thus, in promotions employing coupons, the coupons are typically distributed through newspapers, magazines and mass mailings to households, and therefore mostly reach consumers who are totally disinterested in the particular product or service being promoted. Of those consumers that may potentially be interested in the particular product or service, many cannot be bothered or do not remember to clip the coupon from the newspaper or magazine and bring it to a store for redemption. Other consumers may collect the coupons, but fail to redeem same prior to their expiration dates. These burdens placed on consumers result in low coupon redemption rates and, hence, inefficient and ineffective promotional programs by businesses.
Other promotional techniques which are frequently employed by businesses are similarly inefficient in that they are not targeted to narrowly defined groups of potential customers. Accordingly, these promotional schemes, which include contests, sweepstakes, free product giveaways, etc., suffer from drawbacks similar to those encountered when using coupons.
In order to overcome the poor results which have been obtained with these conventional promotional schemes, attempts have been made to devise programs which are targeted to more select groups of consumers. In one such system, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4 723,212 issued Feb. 2, 1988, the purchase of certain products causes the generation of discount coupons which may be used to purchase different products from the ones originally purchased. Each item purchased is examined to see if a coupon is to be generated, and when all items have been examined and the maximum number of coupons determined, a suitable number of discount coupons are printed and issued. The patron does not take part in the process other than to select the original products for purchase. There is no display of the manufacturer's products, and the prizes awarded, if any, are intentionally different from the ones the patron has selected.
Other attempts have been made to develop promotional schemes which will be of more interest to potential customers. Typically, such schemes center around the playing of a game. In one system, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,641 issued Apr. 16, 1991, a number of tokens having the same common code are distributed to patrons by an establishment or packaged with the product line to be promoted. The tokens must be brought by the patron to the establishment and played in the game device. Certain of the tokens result in the award of a prize which must be claimed at a redemption booth. The system itself does not display the manufacturer's products and therefore neither improves the patron's memory of such products nor triggers a desire to purchase such products. Moreover, the prizes awarded bear no resemblance to the code shown on the token or the game display.
A further known device, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,346 issued Jan. 1, 1991, shows visual advertisements of various products and dispenses coupons if the patron wins. The win is determined matching the number on a readable card with a pre-selected set of winning numbers in the device. Again, the actual prize won is not shown by the device and bears no direct relationship to what is shown.
Thus, despite the considerable effort that has gone into the development of many different promotional systems, there remains a need for a more effective system which will attract the attention of potential customers and which can acquaint these customers with the products and/or services being promoted by a business. Preferably, this system can be operated within a business establishment where it can be targeted to a more select group of potential customers.